[aaronatthedoublef]

Joan, the bread looks nice.

Violet and I made cookies from her Duff cookie book. They are Toll House cookies with butterscotch chips and pecans added. We didn't have pecans (no pecan pie this year for Thanksgiving) or butterscotch chips so we used walnuts and milk and semi sweet chocolate chips. They're pretty good but our chocolate chips cookies are better.

I was behind on my bread making but I had ciabatta dough in the fridge when Violet decided she wanted a sandwich for lunch. I had just enough time to bake a few buns and then make her a sandwich even though they weren't quite cool when I cut the first one. But she was happy.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I've been trying some things differently. I've been letting my bread dough - challah and ciabatta - sit in the fridge and pulling some off, shaping, raising, and baking. I want to see how long it will last. The challah is going on two weeks and the ciabatta is about a week old.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Very cool Mike! School is closed on Friday so this might be fun for Violet.

There are a million recipes on the web. Where did you find yours?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Today I used KAB bread flour. I want to tame the sour a little. It was really strong after it came out of the freezer.

My deli rye didn't use starter but the recipe calls for creating a levain (I think) of flour, water, and yeast and to let that sit for a few hours to over night. I haven't made this in a while but I typically went between 12-24 hours.

It might be good to keep a strong starter and a mild one.

[aaronatthedoublef]

My middle, Henry, is in his first semester of college and where he is has no meal plan. He does eat some meals out but he has also started cooking! While most things have been successful so far he made a little mistake with the garlic in his meatballs the other day and added two bulbs of garlic instead of two cloves!!! Mike, this would not be a recipe for you and Diane! But, college boys being college boys he and his suite mates ate them.

Violet is starting to cook now. Her first attempt was mac & cheese. It came out pretty well. I made the roux as she had to go to field hockey. It's the first time I ever made a roux. The recipe said to mix with a spoon but it looked like it wasn't coming together so I switched to a whisk and that seemed to give better results.

Our kitchen is a bit challenging for her because she is still only 4'8" or so and the counters and stove are high for her. With baking I can move everything to the kitchen table for mixing and shaping, etc. And the ovens are low.

[aaronatthedoublef]

After several days of mixing my starter became liquid enough to move to a new jar so I did that this morning. Since it was pretty loose I also added 10g BRM ww flour. I think I'll make crackers with it before going to bread.

I also don't call it sourdough because while many use "sourdough" to mean starter with natural yeast instead of commercial, there is a lot of "sourdough" bread here with all commercial yeast, no fermentation, and flavorings added to give it a sour taste. Also, my first sour loaf was deli rye and I didn't use starter but I did give it a long, slow, overnight rise to have some fermentation and develop the sour taste.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks everyone. My starter isn't liquid. It's more sludge. I guess I can add water to it and liquify it or I can pull some out, put it in a fresh jar, and hydrate that.

I'll let everyone know what I do and how it turns out.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike!

[aaronatthedoublef]

The pie looks great Mike. Joan - you are a good friend!

Has anyone experimented with making grain free bread? I have a friend who is trying it with marginal success.

I did not bake this week but Violet did. She made her first cake for my birthday. It came out very nicely. I made the frosting mostly because I wanted to try a new method. I also did the clean up for her so she only had the fun part of baking.

Last week was a challah bake but the temple was locked up on my bake day (Thursday) so I had 15 lbs of dough sitting in the fridge. I came in Sunday and gathered it up and brough it home. Can't waste that much dough. I've given away a few pounds of raw dough and a couple dozen 100g rolls and I still have plenty left. It seems to still have rise as I pull it out of the fridge and make rolls, proof, then bake. I haven't weighed how much is left.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The stand mixer lift is something that looks cool but probably becomes annoying when you really have it. At this point I could toss our stand mixer and just use a hand one for amount I use it. I think I can probably find one powerful enough for cakes and all my bread is done by hand anyway.

The triangle was developed for professional kitchens and then designers tried to transfer it to homes. In a big professional kitchen with lots going on, it may make sense to give multiple people their own workspaces without overlapping, to keep people from crossing paths unnecessarily, etc. But that is not what is in most residential kitchens.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Agreed! Joan your breads are amazing!

Thanks Mike.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. Should I coat the apples with cornstarch or flour (or even confectioner's sugar) or just cut them into small bits?

I'm inspired with the pumpkins. I may try that myself.

Update on Henry in Dublin - he is cooking for himself which is cool. He made meatballs the other day and had a slight mishap with the garlic. He confused cloves with bulbs and ended up with two whole bulbs of garlic in the meatballs. But college boys will eat anything.

Thanks again.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi. Have any off you ever put apples in bread? I'm thinking about doing this for some challah. When I've had other people's the apples appear to have kept the dough wet and from baking properly. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Also has anyone ever made a pumpkin shaped loaf? I was thinking about making a boule and then scoring it.

Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

That loaf is a work of art! Amazing.

[aaronatthedoublef]

After working with manufacturers to make appliances in all sorts of colors we are now being told to hide them away. My favorite is the lift that raises and lowers a stand mixer under the counter.

Kate want to redo our kitchen. My question to any potential designer will be "how many meals a week do you cook for three or more people."

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